Detailed Explanation of Key Techniques for High-Yield Cultivation of Goji Berry

Goji berry, also known as Xi gouqi, Shan gouqi, Bai ge zhen, Gou jizi, etc. The fruit is used as medicine and has the effects of nourishing the liver and kidneys, and improving essence and brightening the eyes. It mainly treats conditions such as yin deficiency of the liver and kidneys, insufficiency of essence and blood, soreness and pain of the waist and knees, diminished vision, and dizziness. The root bark is called Digupi and has the effects of removing dampness and cooling the blood, tonifying healthy qi, and reducing lung fire. It mainly treats pulmonary tuberculosis with low fever, bone-steaming night sweats, hemoptysis due to lung heat, hypertension, diabetes, and other conditions. Modern pharmacological research shows that goji berry has anti-cancer effects, lowers blood sugar, lowers blood pressure, dilates blood vessels, prevents the formation of atherosclerosis, and lowers cholesterol. The main producing areas include Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Hebei, ** and other provinces and regions. However, the quality produced in Zhongning and Zhongwei of Ningxia is the best.

Morphological characteristics: It is an upright deciduous shrub of the genus Lycium in the Solanaceae family. The tree is generally 1.5-2 m tall, and the basal diameter of the trunk is 6-10 cm. The bark has strip-like fissures and is gray-black or gray-white. The crown is umbrella-shaped, with a crown diameter generally of 2-2.5 m. Winter buds are small and covered with several bud scales. Fruiting branches are 20-80 cm long. Current-year fruiting branches are gray-white, blue-gray, or blue-yellow; 2-year-old fruiting branches are gray-brown or gray-white, arc-drooping in shape, and have thorns. Leaves are lanceolate, linear-lanceolate, or ovate-lanceolate, entire, with the midvein obvious and lateral veins inconspicuous. Leaves are 4-12 cm long and 0.8-2 cm wide, with short petioles, clustered, and on current-year branches the leaves are alternate. Flowers are clustered in leaf axils. The bud eye is an extremely shortened lateral branch, so the leaves and flowers that sprout are several in a cluster. The corolla is purplish-red, tubular, with 5 lobes at the tip; the lobes are rounded-lingulate and imbricate in arrangement. The corolla tube is 0.8-1 cm long, and the petal lobes are 0.5-0.6 cm deep. The calyx is green, bell-shaped, 0.6-1 cm long, mostly 2-lipped. The pedicel is slender, 1-2 cm long. There are 5 stamens and 1 pistil; the stigma is capitate and shallowly 2-lobed; the ovary is superior, 2-locular, with numerous ovules. The fruit is a berry, bright red, orange-red, or orange-yellow when mature. It contains 20-50 seeds; the seeds are yellow-white or yellow-brown, with a bony seed coat, mostly flattened-kidney-shaped, and very small.

I. Growth habits: Goji berry prefers a cool and dry environment with ample sunlight, and likes water and fertilizer. It has low requirements for soil, but deep, loose, fertile sandy soil rich in organic matter is best. It is cold-tolerant, drought-tolerant, and salt-alkali-tolerant.

II. Land preparation and fertilization: Choose a field with high terrain and good drainage and cultivate it finely. Apply sufficient base fertilizer in combination with land preparation: 3000 kg of farmyard manure, 20 kg of urea, and 50 kg of phosphorus-potassium fertilizer per mu. Then make high beds and wait for sowing.

III. Sowing: Goji berry is propagated by seed, and can also be propagated by cuttings and tiller division. The sowing period is mainly spring sowing, and summer sowing and autumn sowing are also possible. Seed propagation: After the goji berries mature, wash the collected superior seeds clean and mix them with 3 times their volume of moist sand, place them in a wooden box to promote germination, and in spring sow the seeds in rows 20 cm apart on the prepared bed surface. Water to preserve soil moisture and promote seedling emergence. The sowing rate is 0.5 kg per mu. After full emergence, strengthen field management, and after 1 year of cultivation, they can be transplanted. Cutting propagation: Select robust 1-2-year-old branches, cut them into 20 cm long cuttings, tie them into small bundles, soak the lower part in a 500 ppm rooting powder solution for 10 seconds, let them dry slightly, and insert them on the prepared bed surface at a row spacing of 15×10 cm. Water to preserve soil moisture and promote survival. After survival, strengthen field management, and after 1 year of cultivation, they can be transplanted. Tiller propagation: Dig up the tiller seedlings around the root zone of the mother goji berry plant with roots and transplant them separately. Transplanting: In the Beginning of Autumn or early spring, plant the goji berry seedlings on the prepared bed surface at a row spacing of 2×2 m (166 plants/mu). Water to preserve soil moisture and promote survival.

IV. Field management: After full emergence of goji berry or after transplanting survival, attention should be paid to intertillage and weeding. Water promptly in dry weather, and drain immediately in rainy weather. Fertilize once every March: apply 3000 kg of farmyard manure, 20 kg of urea, and 50 kg of phosphorus-potassium fertilizer per mu. During the growth of the goji berry tree, shaping and pruning should also be carried out to cultivate the tree form into a high-yield tree form with a stable framework, a rounded crown, ventilation and light transmission, and a trunk with distinct layers as the main fruiting structure. In order to increase income and achieve the goal of using short-term crops to support long-term crops, suitable short-term crops such as medicinal herbs and vegetables can be intercropped in the first few years after transplanting.

V. Pest and disease control: For anthracnose (black fruit disease), spray with 80% Tuzet 1000-fold solution at the early stage of disease. Spray once every 7 days, 3 times in succession. For gray leaf spot, spray with 65% mancozeb 500-fold solution at the early stage of disease. Spray once every 7 days, 3 times in succession. For root rot, irrigate the affected area with 50% carbendazim 1500-fold solution at the early stage of disease. The main pests include black cutworm, white grub, fruit-boring moth, etc., which can be trapped and killed with phoxim bait.

VI. Harvesting and processing: Goji berry bears fruit 2-3 years after planting, enters full fruiting period after 5 years, fruit production decreases year by year after 30 years, and enters senescence after 40 years. From June to November each year, pick the fruit promptly after it turns from green to red. The freshly picked fruit can be sun-dried or oven-dried and then sold as medicine. The drying ratio is about 25%. Digupi is made by digging out the underground roots, cutting them into 10 cm small sections, pulling out the woody core, and sun-drying them to obtain the commodity.